A great controversy surrounds the subject of space exploration, with one camp firmly believing that a human presence is absolutely necessary on the moon, mars and other heavenly bodies, and another just as certain that remote-controlled machines and instruments give far more return for each dollar invested.
Both positions have merit; both have weaknesses. Manned space exploration proponents state convincingly that human “boots on the ground” can do so much more than even the smartest and most cleverly-designed machines, while those in the other camp cite the inherent cost difference and risks involved in sending humans rather than machines to explore our neighboring bodies in space.
The present invention describes a middle course that goes far in satisfying the need for human presence while avoiding the inherent risks and enormous cost to send human astronauts to places like the moon and mars. Described below is a method of achieving human telepresence to explore the solar system without the risk to life and huge costs involved in actually transporting humans around space; namely, exploration by means of robot proxies “trained” and operated by specialists on earth who see what the proxy sees, feel what it feels, and assist it in making judgment calls in their mutual specialty.
A mission to mars that is already in progress will place a 2000-lb roving vehicle on the surface of that planet. For the same cost, a team of 5 proxy astronauts and associated exploration equipment could explore mars with human telepresence, including human-proxy teams specializing in geology, life sciences, even construction of shelters and landing pads for future missions. Since round-trip earth-mars communication takes between 5 and 40 minutes, each proxy would have artificial intelligence (AI) capability to allow it to be trained it to behave as much as possible like its human handler(s).